Well
now that I am back from class for the day, I figured I could write up my blog
about this weekend. I joined a group on campus known as Activate; they are a
group of people that enjoy the outdoors and enjoy seeing the beauty of
Australia. As part of the group, I went on a camping trip this past weekend
down to Inskip Peninsula. The trip started off with everyone meeting up at
campus, piling into cars (especially the internationals that don’t have cars),
and hitting the road. Everyone met up at a service station near where we would
be for the weekend for a leg stretch and lunch, meat pies are an AMAZING invention by the way… mine
tasted like a chicken pot pie, but you can eat it with your hands…then it was
on to the sandblow. The sandblow was a massive sand dune that looked out on the
ocean. There were SO many different
colors of sand…it was incredible…the structures there that we stood on and sat
on for pictures felt as strong and solid as rock, but turned out to be solid
sand…the wind and weather had worn them to the interesting and sturdy
structures that they had become. Some people slid down the dune to the beach
below and played in the water…however, the hike up for them was a distant
thought that turned into an incredibly difficult task. The sandblow did live up
to its name…the sand blew everywhere…we got it in our hair, eyes, mouth…we were
covered in sandscreen. 
From
the sandblow we left and headed to find our campsite. After scoping out a few
areas we found the right one and set up camp. Once everything was in order, we
headed out to a nearby creek for some freshwater swimming…had to find some way
to wash off the sand right?? The water was freezing…but it was so pretty. After
a good bit of time relaxing in the water, we headed back to the camp for the
night. Back at camp there was a bit of slacklining being attempted…I tried it
and it is DEFINITELY harder than it
looks. I wandered down the beach line for a bit collecting shells until dinner
time, and then I went back to the tents. We had a great group cooked taco night
and hung out for a while. Then I wandered down to the beach to look at the
stars…they get such different constellations than we do back home, though they
do get a few like us. It was so pretty and I was so tired from the adventures
of the day, I fell asleep there on the beach in a sleeping bag under the stars
to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. One of the vest things about
sleeping on the beach under the stars is getting to wake up to the sunrise on
the beach; even if the sun rises at quarter to five in the morning. 
Sunday
was spent feeding dolphins, although we weren’t able to actually feed them
because only one dolphin had shown up that day and they didn’t want to overfeed
it, it was still cool to be able to see them. Along the shoreline I found a
jellyfish (don’t worry mom I didn’t touch it) that had washed up on shore. From
here we went back and tore down camp before heading out to a freshwater lake.
The hike in through the rainforest was beautiful, and once we got to the lake
the view was incredible!! The trees that were near the lake leeched tannins
into the water, giving it an orange appearance…it also made your skin REALLY soft. After a bit of a swim and a few games of
ninja, it was back to the cars and on the road to campus…well and a pit stop
for food. 
It was
an amazing weekend…I met some great people, made some amazing friends, and got
to enjoy some of the amazing beauty of Australia. Now that I am back, its
laundry and, even after a few showers, attempting to get the sand out of my
hair.
